# A Cold Greeting explained — Can Such Things Be?

> Chapter companion for Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

Benson Foley recounts a strange incident involving James H. Conway, who believed he had received a cold greeting from their mutual friend Lawrence Barting in San Francisco, only to later learn that Barting had died days earlier in Nashville.

## Themes in this chapter

### Death and the Supernatural

The story revolves around a pact to communicate after death, and the ambiguous encounter that may or may not be a supernatural sign.

### Identity and Self

Conway mistakes a stranger for Barting, highlighting the uncertainty of identity and perception.

### The Uncanny and the Grotesque

The cold greeting and the revelation of Barting's death create an unsettling, uncanny atmosphere.

## Character check-ins

### Lawrence Barting

Deceased friend who had an agreement with Conway to communicate from beyond the grave; his photograph shows him without a mustache, matching the man Conway saw.

### Benson Foley

Narrator and friend of both Barting and Conway; receives the news of Barting's death and shows Conway the photograph.

### James H. Conway

Visitor from Franklin, Tennessee; experiences a cold greeting from a man he mistakes for Barting, later learns of Barting's death.

## Key lines

> I do not think, Mr. Foley, that I have any longer a claim to your friendship, since Mr. Barting appears to have withdrawn his own from me—for what reason, I protest I do not know.

Conway tells Foley he feels unworthy of Foley's friendship because Barting seems to have rejected him, though he doesn't understand why.

_Conway's explanation for his cold behavior, based on his mistaken belief that Barting snubbed him._

> It seems incredible. I suppose I must have mistaken another man for Barting, and that man’s cold greeting was merely a stranger’s civil acknowledgment of my own.

Conway reflects on the impossibility of the situation, concluding he likely confused a stranger with Barting.

_Conway's rationalization after learning of Barting's death._

## Links

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